Who have you told?

I definitely have no problem with using doctors or cpap or whatever it takes to get help and consider all of them a blessing from God. He believes or I should say tries to believe that God heals everybody completely at once with no medical intervention at all. I say he tries to believe because he takes hbp meds and is going in for some testing next week due to a high bilirubin (probably mispelled) count. I think the whole thing of sleep apnea has him a little confused at the moment. My reaction to cpap therapy and recovery from sleep apnea has been almost the opposite of what a lot of people go through. When I was at my worst from sleep apnea, I didn't really get irritable and cranky like a lot of people do. I withdrew from people and just didn't have much of anything to say and tried to get through each day. My spouse is a very aggressive person and extremely outspoken. I just didn't have the energy these last 7 or 8 years to openly disagree with him. He looked at it as I was becoming very submissive and agreeable while in reality I was almost semi-comatose! Now I have more energy and when he gets really outspoken about things, I push back and he kind of sees it as a step back like we used to be 10 years ago. Like I told him, iron sharpens iron and he needs me this way and this piece of iron is back! Like I said earlier, we've been through over 30 years together and faced a lot of stuff and we'll get through this too. I hope some other people can relate to this because I'm really more outspoken now and a lot of my friends and family are not so sure they like it. They don't have a choice. They'll get used to it. I don't want to go back to the fog I was living in before.

Ah. I don't know if this describes him, but your description sounds like someone I used to know: Absolute in his faith in God when it came to how YOU should behave with YOUR medical problems.... but he wasn't willing to take the risk of not taking his OWN medications, just happy to tell YOU that YOU should...

(Does no one remember that "God helps those who help themselves" anymore?)

Liam, helping himself.

I would like to correct a negative impression I may have given of my husband. True, he is very aggressive and outspoken but he is also the kind of person that will stick with you through thick and thin and will give you the shirt off his back. He's a great guy. We just have a few areas where we don't agree on stuff and after all, differences are what keeps things interesting anyway.

I tell just about anyone who will listen . So many people have OSA and don't realize it. I went through several years of feeling miserable during the day before the doctor finally sent me for a sleep study. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which I later found out was OSA.

I guess my philosophy is if I can help one person by telling them that I'm a hosehead, why not?

Wow... I feel like it's been forever since I last signed on. In regards to whom I have told about my apnea, I would have to repeat the Waders. Anyone that would listen pretty much. However, if the person is someone I want to get to know... I kinda shy away from mentioning it, I don't want to scare him off before I could get a chance to know him.

I have found that some people will react to it like it's some sort of disease.... They don't want to sit near me in fear that I may be contagious and give them the apnea! So, mostly my clients, friends, and family members know about my apnea. Oh, I guess I should throw in there the co-workers, especially after last month's AWAKE meeting (it was held at my hotel afterall).

Speaking of which, AWAKE - Elk Grove, IL is holding their regular monthly meeting this Thursday, 3/24/05. It is held every 4th Thursday of the month. Anyways, if anyone is out there from the Illinois area and needs info on it, please feel free to contact myself or Dave Hagert.

With that said, may I add...... I missed you guys!!!

I try to tell everyone who will listen. I am a newbie - only 1 1/2 weeks on the hose. I had been feeling awful for several years - maybe as far back as college - graduated in 96. Anyway, after 9/11, I had lost a friend there and I was depressed (I think all of America was in some way - no longer were we secure). In 9/02, I lost another close friend and then I lost it. I continued to sleep all of the time but was sad. Automatically, the started treating me for depression. I was placed on Paxil. The mood got better, but the sleeping did not - slept 8-10 hours per night, and napped 1 hour/day, but more recently 2 - 2 1/2 hours per day. Though I was sleeping rather well - too much actually! I would get the stories from my firends and family - you are oversleeping (I have since heard this is a myth - you sleep only what your body needs - and in my case - it was to pay off a hughe sleep debt). Finally spoke with my pulmonologist, where I get treated for asthma, and he sent me for my first sleep study in January. I was psyched!! I had OSA! I was not nuts! Yipeee....I though I was really crazy. SO, here I am a week and a half later, on the hose EVERY night! And, I feel so good. Only 2- 1 hour naps since I started.
So, back where we started, I try to tell everyone. I have heard so many stories like mine, and those people have not been referred for a sleep study. So, if my story, as crazy as it is, will help one person, it is worth telling! So many women in particular, I have found, are placed right away on an antidepressant when all they need is sleep- they are not referred for a sleep study. Many of the signs and symptoms of OSA are identical to that of depression. We NEED to tell our story.


Sorry for rambling.

Jennifer (aka NeurosurgeryNP)

NeurosxNP wrote: ...... Finally spoke with my pulmonologist, where I get treated for asthma, and he sent me for my first sleep study in January. I was psyched!! I had OSA! I was not nuts! Yipeee....I though I was really crazy. SO, here I am a week and a half later, on the hose EVERY night! And, I feel so good. Only 2- 1 hour naps since I started.
So, back where we started, I try to tell everyone. I have heard so many stories like mine, and those people have not been referred for a sleep study. So, if my story, as crazy as it is, will help one person, it is worth telling! So many women in particular, I have found, are placed right away on an antidepressant when all they need is sleep- they are not referred for a sleep study. Many of the signs and symptoms of OSA are identical to that of depression. We NEED to tell our story. .....

Jennifer (aka NeurosurgeryNP)

Jennifer, that was a terrific story! (didn't quote all of it)

You know, when I was being reprimanded by my boss for nodding off at work, he asked me if there was a problem, that might there be some physical reason for my doing this. I just figured it was a failing on my part. And I sank even more into a depression and brain fog. I was miserable. But you know? If someone then, either my boss or someone else, had said, "Linda, it really COULD be something physical, that there's this thing called sleep apnea, and your nodding off isn't your fault," I might have believed it sooner and gone to get help sooner. So, everyone here seems right, that the more people are aware of this, the more likely it would be taken more seriously, even by the very stubborn of us.

And I agree that depression is considered the cure-du-jour, dispensing depression medication without exhausting physical possibilities. And women are simply assumed to be depressed for only emotional reasons. Very good points. Thanks. Helps me, for sure.


Linda

Liam1965 wrote:For what it's worth, I've told anyone who I think would care. Plus, as Linda knows well (my #1 fan on my blog), I posted several essays on my trials and tribulations with Apnea on there as well.

Which is odd, because those of you who know me know how close-to-the-vest I usually am with personal information. It's just not like me to sound off or share personal information or my opinion.

Liam, shy and reserved.

"Shy and reserved"...???
If Liam is "shy and reserved," then I must be svelt and loaded with money!!



Linda, who sure hopes to all that's holy that Liam is shy and reserved